Travel Journals: Maryland's Eastern Shore, September 2015

Our life was knocked off course in an unplanned and certainly unwanted manner on June 30 of this year, when Carol was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Since that awful day, we have striven to live our lives as close to normal as we could. Throughout a summer of chemotherapy and the physical and emotional strains that accompany treatment, Carol's inner strength has come to the fore. She has met the challenge of cancer head on with great intelligence, courage and determination; not to mention a lively and positive attitude.

Before her diagnosis, we had planned a trip to Maryland's eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. In the early planning with our oncology team, one of the first concerns that Carol voiced was whether we could take this trip. Assured by her oncologist that she could indeed travel, Carol endured her treatments by keeping the prize of our east coast vacation foremost in mind. The prospects of this trip kept us both going. It was one thing we could both control.

Carol is more of our own historic treasure, but this was the best sign we could find.

Finally, September 25 rolled around and we boarded our flight for Washington, D.C. On Saturday we reunited with our good friends of over forty years, Jay Bartner and Claire Doheny, in the sleepy town of Oxford, Maryland.


With Jay and Claire at Martini Cottage, Oxford

Private Residence, Oxford

On our first full day, we planned a bike ride to the town of St. Michael's. It started with a ferry ride across a channel of the bay, followed by a ride through serene countryside that reminded Carol and me of some of our cycling days in Dordogne and Provence. Both going and returning, Carol set the pace.

Four bikes and one car on the Belleview-Oxford Ferry

Renting the bikes was an interesting look at how laid back things are in Oxford. On the phone before we left Minneapolis, Rick, the owner of the rental shop, didn't want to bother with a reservation. Don't worry, he said; he'll have bikes. When we arrived, there were bikes outside the open door, but no Rick or any other staff in sight. After about ten minutes, I called the shop number and was informed by Rick that something had come up and he couldn't be there. Go ahead, he said, pick out some bikes and helmets and have a good day. We could settle up later. He even told us go go back into his workspace and find the wrenches we needed to adjust the seats. There were bike locks as well, but "nobody bothers to lock up around here." City folk that we are, Carol and I couldn't free ourselves of habit and took a lock and used it.

Antique Shop on the road to St. Michael's

We returned from our day's ride, to be greeted at the ferry by our friends Bob and Marcella LaChance, who had driven up from their new home in Raleigh, North Carolina, to spend time with us. We logged some porch time catching up on each other's lives and set out for dinner. There are only a couple restaurants in Oxford, but they all served excellent seafood for us.

Later in the evening, we were treated to a full "super moon" and still later, a total eclipse.

On Monday, Jay, Claire, Carol and I forsook the bikes and opted for a cruise on the Rebecca T. Ruark, a skipjack sailboat skippered by Captain Wade Murphy out of Tighlman Island. What a treat that was. There was barely a puff of wind, but that didn't matter. Under Captain Wade's direction, we hoisted the sails, cut the engine and lazed along. Captain Wade put Jay at the helm, hauled out an armful of binders chock full of information and historical photos and held us in his thrall for two hours with stories of the 130-year old Rebecca T. Ruark, his own life (including failing kindergarten and surviving the sinking of his beautiful skipjack in 1999), the history and ecology of the Chesapeake Bay and the "watermen" who have eked out a living harvesting oysters and crabs on the bay.

The Rebecca T. Ruark

Captain Wade, as he's known in these parts

Bob and Marcella had opted for a tour of the Maritime Museum in St. Michael's. We met later to recount our day's adventures for one another on our front porch. The six of us engaged in lively conversation for hours before someone noted that we hadn't eaten dinner. We wandered next door for a late meal at Pope's Tavern.

The Popemobile? If he was, in fact, having some down time in Oxford
on his trip to the United States, we never saw him.

Bob and Marcella left Tuesday, an overcast, humid day that didn't lend itself to getting on a bike. So we lazed about all morning after taking the small

but very interesting Oxford Museum. In the afternoon, Jay and I took turns trying out the kayak that came with the cottage.

Too quickly, the reunion was over. Jay and Claire headed north and Carol and I set out for D.C., where we'll spend a day and a half with another longtime friend, Wolsey Semple.